Oakland Raiders' Coaching Heritage Spiced By Al Davis's Persona

In the movie "Facing the Giants" the powerful scene depicting a coach shouting, "Keep going, don't quit. Keep going, don't quit," was poignant. It has inspired this writer to research the heritage of the coaching staff of the Oakland Raiders.

In some ways, the Oakland Raiders have been facing "giants" over the past seven years.

Now it's time to shout out and embrace a "keep going, don't quit" attitude in the coaching staff and in the team.

First, a look at the list of coaches would be enlightening, especially to some of the fans. Here is the list and the duration of each Raider's coaching career.

Years          Period            Name

2                1960-1961    Erdelatz

2                1961-1962    Feldman

1                1962            Conkright

3                1963-1965    Davis

3                1966-1968    Rauch

10              1969-1978    Madden

9                1979-1987    Flores

2                1988-1989    Shanahan

6                1989-1994    Shell

2                1995-1996    White

1                1997            Bugel

4                1998-2001    Gruden

2                2002-2003    Callahan

2                2004-2005    Turner

1                2006            Shell

2                2007-2008    Kiffin

2                2008-present Cable

Several observations can be made about the coaching heritage of the Oakland Raiders.

Al Davis coached the team for three years and that was longer than the previous three coaches. Eddie Erdelatz coached two years; Marty Feldman coached two years; and Red Conkright coached only one year.

Davis started coaching in 1963 and he was followed by John Rauch, who also coached for three years.

The coach with the longest tenure was John Madden, who stayed at the helm for 10 years. Tom Flores followed Madden with a nine-year coaching career with the Oakland Raiders.

Art Shell is the coach with the third longest tenure. He coached a total of seven years, but his career was broken into two parts: from 1989 to 1994 and again for only one year in 2006.

The average length of tenure for all of the 16 head coaches is 3.18 years. Since 1960 there have been 17 coaching intervals with 16 different head coaches. Art Shell was head coach two different times, so that covers the 17 intervals, manned by 16 men since 1960 to 2010.

Since Art Shell, the length of tenure for a head coach has a mode of two years, and a maximum of four years. Gruden coached from 1998 to 2001 and he was able to hold the job for four years.

After Gruden, four head coaches were able to hold the job for two years, with Shell interrupting the flow with his one year of coaching in 2006.

The most common length of tenure for an Oakland Raiders head coach is two years. Eight coaches during the history of the team have been able to hold the head coach job for two years each.

If Tom Cable survives the challenges of coaching the Oakland Raiders, he will break a pattern that has been set in place over the past nine years. Callahan, Turner, Shell, and Kiffin precede Tom Cable.

Cable can change the pattern in 2010 since he is now assisted by Hue Jackson and a very talented team.

So the powerful phrase in the movie, "Facing the Giants" is telling. That phrase should resound in the minds of Tom Cable and the Oakland Raiders, and it should ring out:

"Keep going, don't quit. Keep going, don't quit!"

Most folks in the Raider Nation can attest to the fact that the theme of Al Davis is aligned with the powerful phrase, "Keep going, don't quit." Davis' persona has dominated the Oakland Raider franchise for many years.

He has added the salt and pepper (and other spices) to the Oakland Raiders, giving it a flavor that has attracted one of the most vocal group of fans in the world.

Our motto, "Just win, baby!" sounds out a message, "Keep going, don't quit!"

Go Raiders!